“You don’t know when privacy will matter,” says Jon McCray Jones of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin. “You don’t know what will be criminalized in America.” McCray Jones was discussing concerns about how surveillance by police affects communities. In many Wisconsin cities, efforts by police to purchase and deploy surveillance technology goes unchallenged and unnoticed. Privacy advocates want to change that, the Wisconsin Examiner reports. For Milwaukee and other cities, the passage of so-called Community Control Over Police Surveillance (CCOPS) ordinances would help get the ball rolling. Rather than banning surveillance technologies these ordinances, which have passed in 24 cities and municipalities nationwide, require that any new or existing technology receive a public hearing, earn approval by the city council, and that an annual report of surveillance gear be created. The hearings give communities a chance to scrutinize the technologies; while the annual report would provide information such as costs, how a technology works, its intended purpose, whether it targets certain communities, what data it collects and how the data can be shared.
Although federal agencies have vast capabilities to monitor citizens, local law enforcement also shouldn’t be underestimated. “Local police departments have become miniature NSA’s,” said McCray Jones, referring to the National Security Agency, which monitors, intercepts, and collects data on a global scale. Block by block in cities like Milwaukee, a powerful and in many ways integrated surveillance network monitors all sorts of activity by citizens. ShotSpotter audio sensors detect loud noises like gunshots and narrow down their locations. Detectives funnel social media data into detailed profiles of people and affinity groups. Facial recognition-equipped cameras glare at passersby, or scan license plates ready to issue an alert whenever a driver placed on a “hot list” is sighted. A phone call, rather than connecting to a known cell tower, just might connect to a cell site simulator used by police to track location, or intercept other data. Or perhaps police are using PenLink software to capture live content including phone calls and text messages. Overhead, a drone piloted by any number of local agencies may buzz past on its way back to a fully equipped surveillance van.